​Refugees coming to Fargo results in media misinformation

More responsible reporting, less racist social media comments please

The recent uproar over 100 refugees coming to Fargo in a resettlement program administered by Lutheran Social Services was indicative of how the media can twist things and stir people into a frenzy using misinformation and race baiting. When a legal immigration program is fused with images of illegal immigrants crossing the border and the origin of where those are coming from are constantly mentioned, you have to wonder what the object of the media entity is. Is it to report the news or divide and get website hits? Sure we all know about the practice of click bait, wherein media outfits post inflammatory stories to get social media comments and website clicks on those stories. Everyone’s guilty of it nowadays but some do it in a way that’s less about reporting the news and more about finding whatever they can to make you mad. You can do it in a way that’s not disingenuous and dishonest. The main offender locally has been Valley News Live and they did their best to whip things up with the refugee resettlement story.

While it’s true you should never read the comments on these stories, some of us can’t help but rubber neck the train wreck to see the kind of vile response this news tends to generate and respond accordingly. While you will never change minds, it is important to show our community is not just made up of a bunch of racist rednecks upset over foreigners coming to their city. Should we be surprised they generate these comments? No. Should we blame the commenters or the news media who repeatedly try to stir up controversy on hot button issues involving race without mentioning key facts such as refugee resettlement happens in the same numbers every year in our community, these are LEGAL immigrants who are screened before they enter the country and many of these refugees are escaping war and poverty? We are lead to believe these “huge numbers” of refugees are going to be large stressors and burdens on our city even though it’s hard to imagine that it’s any different from the numbers of people who move to Fargo through other methods every year or even the fact we’ve managed in previous years with the same number of refugees arriving in our town. It’s also worth noting that some of these same news media outfits have in the past hyped stories to stir up racial tensions such as when two immigrants were said to have had a “street war” in their neighborhood because of a fight over a girl.

We wonder if perhaps there would be as much uproar over these legal immigrants coming to our growing city if they were from Norway and Sweden instead of Somalia and Bhutan. Would the stories be handled the same? Would it even be news? Sure it’s news that some new Americans are coming to our community but should it have been hyped to the level it has been when it happens in the same numbers every year? Should stories and interviews on the subject be spliced with images of illegal immigrants crossing the border and reminders of the crimes that illegal immigrants commit? What does that have to do with legal immigrants?

The life of a refugee isn’t easy. Many of the paths they’ve taken to get here are not ones that anyone would want to endure. While there are people in every community who need help currently, it should be noted that Fargo and North Dakota for that matter are thriving with a booming economy and low unemployment rate. Jobs are a plenty for anyone that wants them. Many times immigrants and refugees fill the jobs that no one else is willing to do, because they are so thankful for the opportunities provided in this country versus where they were coming from. People complain about them coming to their city and state but don’t realize many of them fill a vital role in our economy helping work get done for jobs that none of them would fill. According to LSS, many of the refugees work very soon after arrival making them less of a burden on our community. If our city is thriving and doing well and these people came here legally and are not a burden, they have just as much of a right to live and work in our community as anyone else. The color of their skin, their country of origin, their religion or ethnicity should not matter. They are not more prone to crime or violence versus anywhere else. Feeding into xenophobia does not help solve matters or provide any useful purpose. Local news outlets such as Valley News Live should not spread fear, misinformation and racism in the all mighty name of web hits and story clicks. Blurring lines between opinion programs, news shows on your Facebook page does not help. Whatever separation between all of those there maybe internally, the end result is the same, racist social media comments from viewers on your stories and questions. Why anyone would be ok with that or surprised by it is beyond me. But it is well past time for others in the community and media to speak out against it.